Israel's medal hopes slashed as Shatilov comes 6th

LONDON – Israel’s hopes of winning a medal at the London Olympics suffered a
significant setback on Sunday after Alex Shatilov could only manage sixth
position in the gymnastics floor final, while Lee Korzits remained in second
place in the women’s windsurfing competition, but lost ground to the chasing
pack.

With two medals to his name from the World Championships and three
podium finishes in the Europeans, Shatilov entered Sunday’s floor final fully
expecting to claim a medal.

However, a small, yet significant, mistake
midway through his performance cost him dearly and he recorded a result of
15.333 points, finishing in a very respectable sixth position, but still utterly
dejected at missing out on a medal.

“This wasn’t the performance I was
expecting from myself,” said Shatilov, who recorded scores of 15.633 and 15.600
on the floor in the all-around qualification and final in London.

“I
started off well, but made a needless mistake midway through and that was enough
to relegate me to sixth place. I went for everything. Clearly I’m
disappointed.”

Shatilov was the fifth of eight gymnasts to perform in the
final and knew by the time his turn came that he would require near perfection
to win a medal after the three first contestants recorded results of 15.800 or
higher, with eventual gold medal winner, Kai Zou of China, registering a superb
15.933.

Japan’s Kohei Uchimura won the silver, with Russia’s Denis
Ablyazin taking a bronze.

“Obviously I was under a lot of pressure, but
there is pressure at every competition and I didn’t feel any added burden here.
I can only blame myself for the mistake.”

Korzits was hoping to already
wrap up a top-three finish in Weymouth on Sunday, with Tuesday’s medal race
still to come.

However, the 28-year-old reigning world champion
experienced her worse day of competition on Sunday, ending Race 9 and 10 in
ninth and 11th place, respectively.

Korzits remained in second place
overall, but Finland’s Tuuli Petaja in third moved tied on 38 points with the
Israeli, with Germany’s Moana Delle just a further point back and Poland’s Zofia
Noceti-Klepacka in fifth only trailing Lee by three points.

Even Great
Britain’s Bryony Shaw, in seventh place overall, will feel she has a chance at a
medal on Tuesday being only 11 points behind Korzits, who trails leader Marina
Alabau by 14 points.

Only the top 10 will compete in Tuesday’s medal
race, with points being doubled, meaning first place gets two, second gets four,
etc.

The windsurfer with the lowest point total overall will win the
competition.

A win on Tuesday will guarantee Korzits at least a silver
medal, and possibly give her the gold should Alabau finish in eighth or lower.
Second place in the medal race will ensure the Israeli at least takes the
bronze.

However, a third place finish or lower will mean Korzits will
depend on where her nearest rivals end.

“I’m pleased,” said Korzits,
despite her mediocre day. “There were tough conditions and a single mistake in
the first race cost me dearly. To go into the medal race from second position is
excellent and the competition is wide open, including for the gold
medal.”

Shahar Zubari’s bitterly disappointing event ended on a sweet
note on Sunday after he won the 10th race of the men’s windsurfing after
finishing the ninth in 26th.

The bronze medalist from the 2008 Beijing
Games ended the competition in 19th place overall and at no stage came near to
challenging for a medal as he was expected to.

“I had a very
disappointing competition,” Zubari said. “This competition doesn’t represent my
true ability and it is a shame that this happened to me on the biggest stage. I
did everything I could and I have no regrets.”

Gil Cohen and Vered
Bouskila are placed in 10th place overall in the women’s 470 Class sailing
competition after ending Sunday’s races in fourth and 14th place.

Cohen
and Bouskila will have a chance to think things over on Monday’s rest day, while
the men’s 470 Class team of Gidi Kliger and Eran Sela return to action, ranked
14th after six races.

Also Sunday, Anastasia Gloushkov and Inna Yoffe
recorded a score of 83.400 in the technical routine of the women’s synchronized
swimming duets qualification to place in 17th position overall.

The two
will perform their free routine on Monday with no realistic hope of moving into
the top 12 and advancing into Tuesday’s final.